River God

Rating:
Summary: Five+++++Stars
Review: One of the best novels I've read. Enjoyable from cover to cover. Clever, original, touching, witty, heartbreaking. I've recommended this book to many who normally don't read historical fiction. They agree with my opinion of River God.

Rating:
Summary: the best i have ever read
Review: I read all wilbur smith books and i can say tah this is the best. After i read this book i couldn't forgot taita, tanus and lostris.
argument: taita is a slave of a bad person. this person has a daughter called lostris. she loves a man called tanus but this love is forbidden. The faraon knows lostris and get married with her but lostris keep seing tanus and they have a son. they pass a lot of adventures trying to save egypt from the hicsos.
I love this epic story.

Rating:
Summary: The Best - Nuff said
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read! I have read several thousand books including about 15 of Smiths.

Rating:
Summary: Epic in the Cecil B. DeMille Tradition
Review: This novel is perfect for those who like 'Gone With the Wind' epics. There is a cast of hundreds, a larger-than-life hero and heroine, and a narrator who adds a bit of narcissistic comic relief. The plot involves the love of Tanus, a noble of ancient Egypt (the date is c. 1780 BCE) for Lostris, the daughter of Lord Intef (the main villain). Lord Intef ruined Tanus' father secretly, and only the narrator, Taita the slave, knows the true story of Lord Harrab's disgrace and his son's inability to marry Lostris. When Lostris is married to the weak Pharaoh Mamose, it seems as if the lover's will never be together. Enlisting Taita's help (as a eunuch, he is no threat to Lostris and is her personal slave), true love does triumph; however, it is bittersweet. This is not the only plotline, however: there is everything from desert bandits, to the conquest (briefly) of Egypt by the Hyksos, to the removal of the Egyptian royal court into Ethiopia. Through all these events, Taita provides his very unique opinions on everything from a slave owning society (a necessity that's 'natural' to him, even though he is a slave), to his many inventions (he claims to have invented or perfected grandstands, brain surgery, and chariots, amongst other things), to his many investments in 'river front property'. Some of the events are quite gruesome - such as when Intef finally gets his just desserts - but the dramatic story holds up, no matter how fantastic the events become. Smith has really created a modern classic with this novel, which combines good history with good storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: I always wanted to know what Ayla would look like as a man
Review: I guess when you can't have sex you can get a lot done in life. This was the first book of ancient Egypt that I read and now I am hooked. Meren, Amerotke, Bak are all good but Taita is still the best by far.

Rating:
Summary: Epic
Review: This was one of the best book i have ever read, It was like i really felt i was living every moment and shared the same feelings as the characters

Rating:
Summary: Satisfies readers of many stripes
Review: This book has three main characters: Tanus, a godlike general, Lostris, a Queen who is both ethereal and earthy, and Taita, the "slave" genius. This triad of lovers conspires to rescue their nation from a barrage of traitors, sadists, embezzelers, and murderous armies, while harnessing massive forces of nature, taming enemies, turning disasters into opportunities at every turn, and simultaneously managing to fulfill their complex and intertwined personal passions.
This book is multidimensional--it can satisfy equally and fully, readers interested in history, romance, adventure laced with magic, or psychology and intruigue.
For me however, the most fascinating theme in the book is the transcendence of misfortune and fate by Taita,a castrated slave, who epitomizes the theme repeated throughout the book in many forms, of turning adversity into advantage. He manages to parlay his lowly status and his mutilation into unique strategic assets to gain the position of trust and influence that his genius merits.
The only fault I can find in the book is the somewhat stereotyped sex roles--yet this is mostly compensated for by the great dialogue, and the multidimensional characterization of many protagonists.
Read this richly woven book--you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Superb!
Review: Simply Superb! I don't think there's anything else to be said about this masterpeice. It may not be one of literature's greatest historical accounts but it certainly is one of the greatest action-packed yet emotionally moving adventures that modern readers will come across. Okay, so readers have to suspend their beleif to accept Taita as a multi-maestro in practically every aspect of life (well, almost every one.) but once you get past that, I guarentee you will not put this book down. The first half is a bit slow but it is very gripping and the 2nd half is very fast paced with superb action sequences awaiting you with almost every half dozen pages or so.
Don't listen to the mindless negative reviews here. Read the book and decide if you like it nor not. it's not just your average action-adventure yarn. It's the extrodinary story of one very extrodinary man.It's both emotionally moving (especially the end)and crammed with action. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: ...I for one am happy that Wilbur Smith wrote a fantastic story. I'm not going to complain that he described the colour of papyrus wrongly or something equally as trivial and stupid in the book.
Now the positive - I read this book in two days. A friend suggested it, and from the first page I couldn't put it down. Smith just has this way of telling a story that involves you. They are just so colourful and expansive. Everyone I know who has read the book loved it. This book restored my faith in quality story telling. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: love, war & ancient egypt
Review: great book, have been reading the series -
lent it out already a few times to friends and they all liked it.
a great read worth the time.